So I’ve used android in the past on phones and one of the great things was being able to quickly switch between running apps. But with this tcl android tv I find that if I accidentally hit the dedicated Netflix/YouTube button(which unfortunately happens way too often) I have to completely reload the previous app (ie HBOmax )over again. Is there a setting or something I’m not aware of or is this just android tv vs android phone os functionality?
I have a TCL in my bedroom. It's just a rubbish TV
What year TV is it? I believe TCL will be bringing android 11 to their 2019/2020 models. https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1610708526
I have no idea if this will fix your problem but hopefully it provides some overall improvements. Not sure when it'll be either.
Open dev options and see if there's any settings to increase temp memory(cache) My toshiba tv has option in dev mode to enable quickly shut off apps that you switched from . But it's an unwanted option. In your case I hope it's on and you can disable it.
I dislike the remote that comes with TCL tv. I don't understand why give only netflix and youtube button instead of user configurable buttons. Worse is netflix as it won't exit after you press back couple of times unlike youtube
You should be able to change those remote buttons with the Button Mapper app.